1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safety garments and fall arresting harnesses. Specifically, the invention is an article of clothing having an attached harness for connection to a safety line.
2. Description of the Related Art
The need for protection from falls has long been felt by employees in dangerous professions, such as construction work, utility repairmen, and many others who must work at dangerous heights. The minimum requirements for such protection are described in 29 C.F.R. .sctn. 1926.502. The need has also been felt by hunters, who frequently wait for game sitting in elevated tree stands. Additionally, workers entering confined spaces face certain risks, such as lack of oxygen, or being injured while in a location with limited access for rescuers. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration also requires some entrants into confined spaces to wear body harnesses for attachment to a retrieval line, (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, PERMIT-REQUIRED CONFINED SPACES 11 (1998)).
Given the importance of such safety precautions, it is no surprise that several other inventors have proposed various body harnesses for fall arresting. However, no other safety harness within the knowledge of the present invention combines all of the advantages of ease of use, distribution of forces over the widest possible surface area, protection of the harness itself by the clothing, and ease of enforcement of rules requiring use of the harness.
An example of protective clothing unrelated to fall arresting systems is U.S. Pat. No. 2,709,667, issued May 31, 1955 to Grubb et al., describing a fire fighter suit. The suit includes a helmet, jacket, and overalls made from fiberglass fabric. The overalls include a harness having a chest strap and a crotch strap, with a lift ring in back for attachment of a rescue line.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,153, issued Apr. 11, 1961 to Earl J. Hoagland et al., describes a safety suit. The safety suit includes a coverall garment having a harness system. The harness system includes a noose passing around each arm and leg, connecting at the back of the neck to a ring for connecting to a rescue line.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,101, issued Feb. 28, 1978 to Lew Himmelrich, describes a coat having a harness. The harness passes around the wearer's waist and crotch, and connects to a descent control device in front.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,216, issued Jun. 16, 1981 to Weissmann, describes a jacket having an outer harness with shoulder and waist straps for anchoring the user in case he loses his footing. The straps are sewn to the jacket and to corresponding straps inside the jacket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,847, issued Dec. 1, 1981 to Miles, describes a jacket and pants having foam inserts protecting the lower back and hips.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,882, issued Mar. 22, 1988 to Ekman, describes a waistcoat or coverall including channels for a harness. The harness includes a belt, a pair of shoulder straps passing diagonally across the back and vertically across the front, attaching to the belt, and possibly a pair of crotch straps. The garment includes a D-ring in back for connecting to a safety line.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,870, issued May 24, 1988 to Roth, describes a windsurfing harness. The harness passes across the back of the arms and shoulders, and has a hook or glove at either end for holding the windsurfer to the sailboard boom.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,548, issued Aug. 6, 1991 to Grilliot et al., describes a firefighter's combination trousers and safety harness. The safety harness includes a belt and a loop extending around each leg. A loop and ring extends upward from the front of the trousers for connection to a safety line. A similar invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,724, also issued to William L. Grilliot and Mary L. Grilliot on Aug. 11, 1992.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,046, issued Apr. 14, 1998 to Williams et al., describes a safety jacket and harness system. The harness includes a pair of torso straps, a pair of shoulder straps, and a central back strap having a ring for connection with a safety line. The jacket includes a plurality of flaps for snapping around the harness.
Great Britain Patent Document No. 218,467, published on Jul. 10, 1924, describes a harness for raising or lowering a person. The harness is made from rope fastened with brass rings. It has three loops: one fitting around the torso, and one for each leg.
Great Britain Patent Document No. 1,233,761, published on May 26, 1971, describes a safety harness including front and back buoyant material.
Other safety harnesses are available in the prior art, but none of them teach a harness integrally secured to the interior of a garment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,134, issued Jan. 28, 1969 to Rosenblum, discloses an industrial harness having a panel for stabilizing the harness straps to the user. U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,395, issued Oct. 31, 1972 to Theobald, discloses a rescue and safety vest that is quickly and easily placed on an injured person in order to safely lift the person from a hazardous situation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,877, issued Dec. 11, 1979 to Gallinati, discloses a safety vest having tether attachments located at the shoulders. U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,215, issued Jun. 16, 1981 to Leggett, discloses safety harness for hunters having a rear gang connector for evenly distributing any tension in the supporting lifeline. U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,335, issued Dec. 2, 1986 to Vinai, discloses rescue and securing harness having a suspension point that allows the suspended person to be in correct vertical alignment. The suspension point has a fastener to facilitate the suspension point against the back of the wearer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,418, issued Aug. 8, 1989 to Hengstenberger et al., discloses a safety harness formed of a unitary continuous loop of material being stitched into a larger torso loop and a smaller handle loop. U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,976, issued Jun. 22, 1993 to Gunter, discloses safety harness for use in a radioactive or chemically hostile environment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,082, issued Nov. 11, 1994 to Bell, discloses a safety harness having a means for lowering the person safely after a fall. U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,480, issued Oct. 5, 1999 to Neustater et al., discloses a fall protection suit having channels for inserting the straps of the harness. U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,517, issued Oct. 26, 1999 to Jordan, discloses a safety harness having an integral safety line.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,440, issued Mar. 14, 2000 to Woodyard, discloses a combination vest and safety harness, wherein the safety harness is sewn in the vest between the outer shell and the inner lining. The plurality of buckles of the harness must be subsequently fastened after donning the vest in order to be protected from a fall while wearing the vest. The harness also includes a dorsal ring for connecting a lanyard to the harness, the dorsal ring provides additional holes for passing the shoulders through.
None of the above safety systems offers the advantages of ease of use, wide distribution of forces, protection of the safety harness, and ease of enforcement offered by the present invention. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a combination clothing/safety harness for fall arresting and rescue from confined spaces solving the aforementioned problems is desired.